18 Feb 2010 07:12 am
17 Feb 2010 09:49 am
"Avatar" Comes to the West BankI'm not actually sure this is for real, but if it is, it's pretty clever:17 Feb 2010 08:37 am
Pity the BanksSteven Schwarzman, he of the three million-dollar birthday party -- starring Rod Stewart! -- says we should all stop picking on the banks:My biggest concern is that, as a result of either proposals or tone, that financial institutions are going to feel under siege and their going to retreat with their extension of credit. There is enormous uncertainty, not so much in the economic environment, but we've also increased the uncertainty from the political environment directed at the banks. And there is a really good probability that banks, starting in the U.S., but also on a broad basis may start to restrict credit simply because the uncertainty and the tone against them is so difficult that they may lack the confidence to just start doing their normal function.In other words, the big banks will bring down the American economy and impoverish millions because they don't like the "tone" of the discussion. I'm understanding the attraction of someone like Ron Paul more and more these days. 17 Feb 2010 08:07 am
What to Do with Obscene E-MailsI say, post them. Sometimes. Jeff Weintraub explains why he doesn't want to activate a comments section on his blog. He cites some of the crazier stuff I find in my in-box as proof of the uselessness of openness, and writes, "I suspect that Goldberg isn't sharing the more demented, illiterate, and morally obscene kinds of e-mail attacks he gets." Generally, I do post some of the most demented material. The letters I don't read, and don't post, are letters like the one that came in the other day that began, "Dear fucking douchebag Zionist," which was followed by nine (!) paragraphs of I-don't-know-what, because I stopped reading once I counted the paragraphs. But I do enjoy letters from Nazis, mainly because of their issues with spelling. The people who really scare me are the Nazis who use proper grammar.16 Feb 2010 02:18 pm
Does Gay Sex Cause Earthquakes?According to the Talmud, it does. About which Tzvee, from Tzvee's Talmudic Blog, writes, "That must be some awesome gay sex."He goes on to explain: According to the Talmud text, earthquakes are caused by any one of a number of acts: yes by gay sex, but also by disputes, and also by not taking heave offering and tithes from your produce, and also because God is just upset that the Temple is in ruins and there are theaters and circuses in Israel. Rabbis ought to know better than to cherry pick among the reasons for earthquakes.This rather absurd discussion has been prompted by reports that a group of fundamentalist rabbis has blamed the Haiti earthquake on the end of "don't ask, don't tell." Seriously. This is from one of those rabbis: Thirteen months before 9/11, on the day New York City passed homosexual domestic partnership regulations, I joined a group of Rabbis at a City Hall prayer service, pleading with G-d not to visit disaster on the city of N.Y. We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl. We plead with saner heads in Congress and the Pentagon to stop sodomization of our military and our society. Enough is enough."My Jewish God, on the other hand, loves all people, who are created in His image. Even gays. And even Haitians. And certainly gay Haitians. And most definitely gay Haitians who live near Chernobyl. 16 Feb 2010 01:09 pm
Would a Middle East Peace Process Stop Iran?According to Dan Drezner, the Saudis think so. Here are some things Drezner believes will happen before the conclusion of a successful Middle East peace process:1) Cold fusion; 2) Bermuda wins gold medal in men's luge; 3) Miley Cyrus nominated for Best Actress Oscar. 16 Feb 2010 09:48 am
On Changing My Name to GoebbelsA number of Goldblog readers have asked me to answer the question, posed to me the other day by a Kahanist, "How much would it take for you to change your last name to 'Goebbels'"?I'll change my last name to Goebbels if someone will pay for my daughter's Bat Mitzvah party. Also, my other children's Bar Mitzvahs. Also, I want to have the Bat Mitzvah in Berlin. Or better yet, in the Eagle's Nest. Eva Braun's sister Gretl had her wedding there, so I know it can accommodate guests. I'm not sure the kitchen is kosher, however. 16 Feb 2010 09:28 am
Disney Safe from Four-Year-Old Terrorists in Leg BracesThe latest TSA stupidity.16 Feb 2010 08:09 am
John Judis for President of AIPACThe New Republic's John Judis, heretofore not known to me as a participant in the Israel Lobby's attempt to dominate Washington, outs himself as a fellow conspirator on The New Republic's website. He did not call for the continued settlement of the West Bank, or for the overthrow of Barack Obama, or for the expulsion of Arabs from Jerusalem. He did something far worse: He criticized Stephen Walt, the neo-Lindberghian Judeocentrist fearmonger who has made it his life's mission to pin the Iraq War, among other wars (in the manner of Mel Gibson, though Gibson was drunk at the time) on the Jooz. In doing so, Walt has become a serial dissembler: Judis points to his recent argument that Tony Blair now acknowledges that Israel pushed the Iraq War on America. Judis:The real problem is that Walt does not seem to have taken the trouble to have read the transcript of Blair's testimony. If he had, he would have realized that Blair was not talking about how invading Iraq might benefit Israel, but about the conflict then occurring between Israel and the Palestinians. The second intifada had reached a new height with the Passover and Haifa suicide bombings and the beginning of the siege at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and Blair was concerned that the Bush administration was not actively pursuing the peace process. Blair wanted the administration to put the Arab-Israeli issue on a par with the threat of Iraq.Slipshod, even malicious, renderings of history are par for Walt's course, and I'm glad that John Judis has taken the time to point out this particular calumny. But I feel for John Judis. I've only met him a couple of times, but suffice it to say, he's not Marty Peretz when it comes to questions about Israel. But now he'll be accused of being part of the Israel Lobby by Stephen Walt, because Stephen Walt's definition of an Israel lobbyist is anyone who criticizes Stephen Walt.
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